


Worth It

by JAB08199



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Might be kinda triggering to some people so please be mindful, kinda OC but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 17:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20213311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JAB08199/pseuds/JAB08199
Summary: A few really short fluffy stories combined into one longer short fluffy story about Hope and Josie being totally in Love.





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> It's me, I'm still alive. Enjoy this short story thing. I'll be honest this whole thing is kind of a mess but I've been trying to make it better for a while because I tried writing this in a different style/way so yeah, enjoy. 
> 
> P.S I'm tired and sick af uploading this so if I missed tagging something lmk and sorry for any errors in advance

Josie Saltzman had done what most students would have thought to be impossible.

It was subtle at first. Little tells here and there.

No matter how many she smiles she threw at the auburn-haired beauty the only thing she got in return were confused frowns.

That didn’t deter the young siphon though. Every frown she met with a bigger smile. 

Every conversation was met with curt replies but it was ok, Josie would just try a different topic next time.

She never let any of the too short interactions with Hope Mikaelson get her down. Like most people at the Salvatore school Hope had a tragic backstory, but hers was differently sinister in ways that made isolation seem like the only option for her. Unfortunately for the Mikaelson girl, Josie Saltzman was crushing hard. 

Most people knew Josie Saltzman to be selfless and she was, but sometimes she wanted to take things too. She didn’t think about it like that though. All she saw was a girl who was misunderstood. A girl who needed some love. Josie had plenty of that to go around and ‘NO’ wasn’t in her vocabulary.

It took a while. A long while. But eventually, Josie’s antics were met with pursed lips instead of straight stone cold faces. It wasn’t ideal, but it was an improvement. Not a big improvement to most people but to Josie, it was the biggest milestone. She was cracking through the girl’s rough exterior.

Whatever was underneath just made Josie want to try harder.

It was a few more weeks though before anything happened. But what did happen completely floored Josie throwing her entire plan out the window.

One day after classes the brunette was on her way back to her room when she felt a hand around her bicep yank her to the side and pin her to the wall by her shoulder. It wasn’t rough or painful, the arm that held her there was strong and sturdy.

Josie looked down into irritated stunning blue eyes. 

“What’s your deal?” Hope demanded.

“What do you mean?” questioned Josie.

“You- you’re always being extra friendly with me. Why?”

For some reason, Josie lost all semblance of common sense. It must have been the lack of space between her and a dazzling pair of blue eyes.  _ Wow. They were so blue. _

“Thanks,” Hope scoffed. “I hadn’t noticed before now.”

It took a moment for her to realize what happened. But it eventually registered. “Did I say that out loud?” Josie whispered.

“Yes.”

“Oh.” 

Hope just raised an eyebrow and god, something so simple never looked so sexy.

The tribrid released Josie’s shoulder and took a step back. Her face bright red sporting a slight grimace.

“Oops.” She did it again.

“What’s your deal?” Hope repeated.

“Honestly?” Josie had come this far, why not take the leap of faith. “I’ve been trying to get through to you for like… I don’t know, months? I think you’re really pretty and your lips look really soft.”

Hope’s eyes widened, but she didn’t make any effort to move away any further. “My lips… look soft?” she said slowly

“Yes.” 

Hope leaned on one leg and ever so slightly to the side. “Aren’t you supposed to take someone to dinner or something before you confess shit like that?”

“I can do that,” Josie said a little too quickly.

“Oh? Yeah?”

“Yeah!” Josie basically shouted, “Like whenever. Tonight? Or tomorrow if tonight is too soon, or like next week… or something? When are you free? I'm free whenever and if I’m not I can move some stuff around or cancel some other plans. Cuz you’re worth it. What’s your favorite type of food? Wait! When would you like to go out? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Oh, wait! I need your phone number, I mean can I have your numb-”

Hope cut Josie off by pressing a hand to her mouth shoving her lightly against the wall again. “How about this Saturday at the Mystic Grill? I wrote this down while you were having your really adorable mental breakdown. Text me a time and I’ll be there, you pick and surprise me. Personally, I’d go with dinner, the town looks really cool all lit up at night but seriously it’s up to you. I’ll be there no matter the time. Sound good?” she said slipping a piece of paper with her phone number on it into one of Josie’s hands.

The siphon smiled into Hope’s hand and gave a muffled “mhmmph” while throwing two thumbs up.

Hope made to go about her business but barely made it three feet when she felt arms wrap around her middle attempting to squeeze the life out of her. 

Josie hugged Hope from behind with all her might while letting out a squeal of excitement. 

“You’re that excited to be going on a date with ME, that you’re hugging ME about it?”

“Yup!” Josie whooped, whisking herself down the hallway.

The auburn-haired beauty watched her go wondering what the actual fuck she got herself mixed up with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday came and went. The date went fantastic. So fantastic that Josie got to know just how soft Hope’s lips actually were.

Stupidly, in her starstruck mind space, Josie made the mistake of bragging to some of her close friends about their date. And just like how gossip goes, rumors follow. She didn’t say she couldn’t talk about their date but Hope was a private person and now because of Josie, her name was wrapped up in dumb highschool rumors.

Josie was crushed. She worked so hard for progress with Hope and now she fucked it up. 

Monday after class she ambushed the tribrid with a bone-crushing hug. She was sobbing and spewing out apologies, saying how she wouldn’t be upset if Hope regretted their date and how she’d understand if she didn’t want to continue whatever it was they just started.

The whole time Hope was silent and when Josie finished rambling she tilted the taller girl’s chin down with gentle fingers and wiped her tears away. She couldn’t stand seeing Josie upset, it set her off. She felt the golden glow trying to creep its way into her eyes and shoved it down. She returned the hug and whispered in her ear. “I guess you’ll have to make it up to me,” she said, “there’s a movie coming out next week that I’ve been dying to see. My favorite theater even has these seats where you can fold the armrest up between two for cuddling. I guess you’ll have to join me. I’ll buy an extra ticket.”

Josie felt her knees go weak and fresh tears of joy flood her system.

“But-,” Hope booped Josie on the nose with her index finger, “I think you’ve forfeited your goodnight kiss for that date.” She stood on her toes slightly to press a kiss to the brunette’s forehead and strutted away with a wink.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like the first date, the second came and went. It went just as well, if not better than the first one did. True to her word the seats did, in fact, become some sort movie theater makeshift love seat. So far, nothing beat being sitting in between Hope’s legs while being wrapped in her arms. Josie tried hard not to fall asleep during the movie, she really did, but Hope was just too warm and soft. 

Hope didn’t mind though. She was content with just having the girl there and if Josie was tired then Hope would do everything in her power to make sure she was comfortable until she woke up or the movie ended.

Josie woke to the credits rolling and Hope smiling down at her. When she realized that the tribrid had draped her favorite leather jacket over them Josie just fell for her harder.

Hope walked Josie back to the twin’s room when they arrived back at the school. Unfortunately for Josie, Hope kept true to her word once again and turned her head so that when Josie closed her eyes and went in for the kiss, she was met with Hope’s cheek. She straightened up with a vicious pout.

Hope brought a hand up to tuck a loose strand of dark brown hair behind Josie’s ear, sliding her thumb down her jawline and over her bottom lip. “Sorry sweetie, I said you lost that kiss didn’t I? How could I be a good date if I lied to you? I guess we’ll have to have a third date if you want one that badly. G’night cutie.” she finished with another wink.

Josie was hooked and they both knew it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The third date never came. It was planned, but it never happened.

The day they were supposed to go out into the woods for a picnic as their third date Josie showed up randomly a few hours before they were going to proceed into the night. Hope knew it was her, she had memorized her heartbeat and the way her shy but clumsy footsteps sounded whenever she walked. So she pulled the door open before Josie could even knock, teases of not being able to stay away ready to roll off her tongue.

All of that died in her throat when she saw the tear streaks and red rims of Josie's eyes. Hope wasted no time in guiding the taller girl over to her bed and sat her down. Closing and locking the door with a wave of her hand Hope then took Josie’s face in both of her hands and wiped her tears away with the pads of her thumbs.

“What happened?” Hope whispered.

Josie wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her face into the tribrid’s stomach. “Lizzie doesn’t like how close we are,” she mumbled into Hope.

“That’s not new information Josie…”

Josie tightened her grip. “Dad took her side… he- he just kept saying that… you’re a...”

“A Mikaelson.” Hope spat.

Josie rocketed up, almost headbutting Hope in the chin. “Y- You know I don’t care about that stuff right?”

Hope stared up at Josie for a moment. Josie Saltzman had never once cared about who she was. Or what she was for that matter. She knew that Josie had read that dumb book but never once asked her about it or commented on it. The only thing she got from the siphon was love and warmth.

“I know,” Hope said. “I’m sorry you have to deal with all the shit that comes with me and my family,” as she stared up into chocolate brown eyes a thought came to her that made her whole world stop. “Josie” Hope started to get the other girl’s attention, “You… you know I like you right? Like you’re not just some fling or whatever. Or some rich girl’s snack? I don’t- I’m not like that. I really like spending time with you. I just- I just need you to know that.”

The smile Josie gave blew Hope away. Through the tears, snot, and puffy eyes Josie still just looked like a goddess to her. And as far as Hope was concerned she would be treated as such.

Josie looked at the ground before bringing her eyes back up to Hope’s. Her smile had faded which made the shorter girl frown. “C- can I stay with you tonight?”

Hope was lucky she had some semblance of supernatural hearing because she knew for a fact that if she didn’t, she would not have heard Josie.

“Yeah…” she whispered.

Josie’s eyes lowered once again. “Are you sure? You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, I know you’re a reclusive person. I can go back to my room.”

“Josie,” Hope’s tone was serious. “You think I’m going to send you back when you just came from there in tears? I’d really like it if you stayed.”

Taking Josie’s hands Hope guided her over to the dresser and told her to pick some clothes and use Hope’s adjoining bathroom to take a shower. Thirty minutes later Josie walked through a cloud of steam wearing only Hope’s favorite ‘New Orleans’ sweatshirt.

She looked really good.

Together they climbed under the covers on Hope’s bed. Hope snagged her sketchbook and pencil from the bedside table while Josie snuggled into her side.

For ten minutes Hope sketched simply waiting for Josie to let the exhaustion take her over.

“Hope?”

The tribrid turned her head and raised her eyebrows, prompting Josie to continue.

“Will you be my girlfriend? L- like officially? If- if you’re ok with labels...”

“I’d love that.” Hope smiled. “Truly. Oh and Josie?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re more of a whole meal than a snack ya know?”

Another ten minutes went by to find Josie asleep with a content smile on her face, snoring softly. Hope quietly tossed her drawing supplies aside and made to turn off the light so she could join her ‘new’ girlfriend. As she reached for the switch she snapped her head towards the door instead. There were two pairs of footsteps approaching her door. It was weird, they were hesitant but… rushed steps at the same time.

Sighing Hope carefully and quietly slid herself out from beside Josie and to the door. She pulled it open before they could knock and possibly disturb Josie. She opened it just enough so she could peak into the hallway to see Alaric pausing his attempt to do just that.

Hope just stared at him with blank eyes from the shadows of her room.

“Do you know where my sister is, mutt?”

She opened the door barely another inch to see an irritated Lizzie to Alaric’s side.

“She’s asleep.”

“Well hurry up and let us in so we can take her to her own bed,” Lizzie snapped.

“She doesn’t want to,” Hope said through grinded teeth. Lizzie’s tone and the apparent lack of sympathy for Josie was infuriating.

“Hope-” Alaric began.

“What?” she snapped interrupting him, “You think I’m in here drinking her blood or something? Using her for some nefarious plan? Pfft, you’re ridiculous. You really never could get over the fact that my dad was who he was.”

Alaric’s demeanor falters, surprised that Josie had divulged the information from the private family conversation they had. He can see the hurt and betrayal carefully hidden behind the patented cold, proud, and stubborn Mikaelson eyes. Alaric knows her well enough to see it and knows that Lizzie and even Josie probably can’t. Hope has had too much happen in her lifetime and too much time in solitude to perfect this specific trick.

Lizzie had siphoned magic from the school walls, “Listen freak, let me see my sister or-”

Before Alaric could intervene, Hope was in Lizzie’s face.

“Or what?” the tribrid hisses, her eyes glowing so bright that the blonde has to squint and take a step back. “You think I’m above teaching you a lesson just because you’re Josie’s sister?” she raises a hand, pure energy almost crackling off of her fingertips, “You. Will. Lose.”

Feeling the pressure of Hope’s seemingly unlimited raw power, Alaric carefully steps forward to place a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder. “Ok,” he says, “you’ve made your point.”

They make it about halfway down the hallway before Hope calls out to them. “You know you can talk shit about my family and I all you want, but I’m not the one who made her cry am I? But I’m the one she comes to when shes upset.”

And just like that, she disappeared back into her room leaving Alaric and Lizzie alone with the weight of her words.

The next time anyone saw Josie, she was going from class to class sporting a worn dark grey ‘New Orleans’ sweatshirt and a smile that rivaled the glow of a full moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the next week went by the rumors came back stronger than ever. Josie didn’t mind, she was too happy to let any more rumors touch her. Hope was happy too. At least, that's what she let everyone see.

She was happy, truly happy to be with Josie but with every new rumor Hope lost a little bit of her composure. 

A chip here,

_ “Shes just  _ ** _using_ ** _ Josie for her unique powers.” _

A chip there,

_ “That poor girl, how did that  _ ** _monster_ ** _ sink her fangs so deep.” _

A chip at lunch,

_ “Someone should check on her, what if that  _ ** _freak_ ** _ is hurting her or something?” _

A chip at dinner,

_ “Too bad this isn’t a fairy tale. Once a  _ ** _beast_ ** _ , always a  _ ** _beast_ ** _ in my opinion.” _

That night after Hope left Josie at her own room she fled deep into the woods. She goes to her usual spot, the spot with a tree that has a natural ingrown cove for her to hide her clothes. She strips her cardigan and her shirt before-

The last of her resolve crumbling completely she just cant take it anymore, she doesn’t have it in her to shift. Turning, she just starts throwing punches. She lays into the closest tree with everything she has. No form, just power, just force. She feels as the knuckles of each hand crack just like the bark she wails on. She watches as the splinters fly in every direction along with drops of her blood and the shredded skin of her hands. 

She doesn't care. She just needs to feel something other than sadness and anger, even if its pain.

Hope doesn’t hear the two pairs of footfalls that had followed her the entire way.

“Hope, stop! Stop!” a feminine voice yells. She ignores it.

A pair of hands wrap around her middle trying to yank her away from the tree. “Stop!” it repeats.

Hope throws one final punch at the same time the hands around her give their last desperate tug. They stumble and she cracks someone clear across the jaw, hearing as they hit the ground a second later. She lands on top of whoever grabbed her hard, the breath leaving them with a loud oof. 

She fell back on her ass but can’t bring her hands up to wipe away the tears that she didn’t even notice falling. They’re too mangled, not even her vampire blood can heal the damage she had done to them that fast.

Small, gentle hands cup either side of her face wiping her eyes of the tears so thick they were obscuring her view and she comes face to face with none other than Penelope Park. 

“What?” Hope rips her head out of Penelope’s grasp. “Come to finish me off? Come to put the final nail in the coffin? Tell me to go die? To kill myself? It’s just about the only thing I haven’t heard around here yet. Lord knows you wouldn’t even be the first.”

Penelope wrestles Hope into a tight hug while being mindful of her hands. “N-no. I came out here to give you the shovel talk actually. The whole If you hurt her you’ll deal with me thing,” she said. “But… It looks like you need a different talk instead…” 

The auburn-haired girl felt the tears fall this time. “Everyone thinks I’m bad for her. Everyone thinks im just gonna hurt her. I won’t, I won’t, I swear! I swear I won’t.” she cried hysterically into Penelope’s shoulder.

“I know. I know,” the girl whispered back.

Penelope held Hope as she broke down. It was a long while before she felt the tribrid’s breath return to a normal state.

Penelope didn’t even have to try to lighten the mood. The opportunity just presented itself for her. The opportunity in the form of more cracking bark.

“Um.. Hope?” she began only continuing when dark blue eyes met her own hazel ones. “I think you need a new tree to stash your clothes in.”

Hope followed the dark-haired girl’s eyes over her shoulder to watch the tree she had mercilessly attacked tumble to the ground. As hit the ground Hope heard a strained gasp come from over her other shoulder, scaring the living daylights out of her. She hoists Penelope up off the ground, eliciting a small yelp from the girl and spins around so she’s between whatever just made that noise and the witch in her arms. Unintentionally tightening her grip when she see a dazed MG sit up.

“Dayum girl,” he says rubbing his jaw. “I’m pretty sure you dislocated my jaw when you snapped my freakin’ neck.”

Hope just stared in complete shock. A little overwhelmed with everything happening.

“Hope,” wheezed Penelope, “Please put me down. I can’t-”  _ wheeze _ “breath.”

“Oh, yeah sorry” Hope went to carefully place her back on her own two feet. The adrenaline from MG’s resurrection scare decided to wear off right then, so instead of Penelope landing on her feet, she landed on her ass from a three foot fall. While Hope landed on her knees next to her.

Both hit the ground hissing a “fuck” at the same time.

Hope looked up from her shaking hands, “Sorry. I think I overdid it with my hands.”

“You should see the other guy though,” quipped MG. “No? Too soon? I’ll just… ok….” he added when they both sent him a look.

Penelope sat up and jabbed Hope in the stomach. “You’re literally just a scared, clumsy, puppy,” she shot. “Woahhh.... A puppy with abs! When did you get these? You’ve been holding out on everyone Mikaelson, you should take your shirt off more often!” she continued prodding at Hope’s stomach. She halted immediately when she looked up into gold eyes and a frown. “Sorry… Josie’s territory, huh?”

“Yes.” Hope replied curtly.

“I’ll… I’ll stop now…” whispered Penelope visibly intimidated.

“Good Idea.” Hope said staring her down. “MG would you mind?”

MG handed, basically threw Hope’s shirt at her trying to avert his eyes to literally anywhere else like he had never seen a girl in a bra before. Let alone a bra, at all. Her and Penelope shared a laugh as they made their way back to the school.

Penelope pulls Hope in for one last hug but before they can part, Hope squeezes until all the air leaves the other girl’s lungs. “If I EVER hear you tell people I’m a puppy, I will shift into a wolf and eat you.”

She releases the witch and all she gets is a winded thumbs up in response.

The next morning Hope had made it through half the day before she stopped dead in the middle of a hallway. No rumors, no sideway glances. No whispers. Casting her blue eyes up and down the corridor she eventually locks eyes with a smirking Penelope. The girl sticks her tongue out and winks and Hope knows, she just knows that she’s somehow responsible. She knows she has a new ally. A friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward a month and people really found out just how serious Hope and Josie’s relationship was. Things were going really well between them and while Penelope had really done them a solid to stop all the rumors and shenanigans, they were still technically in highschool and you can’t stop people from talking.

The school had picked up a new or student or two in this time. One of which was a werewolf. A very cocky werewolf. He was every girl’s fairy tail prince. He was tall, pushing 6 and a half feet, built like hercules, blue eyes, dark hair, the whole shebang. This wolf had taken a very strong liking to one; Josie Saltzman.

He wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was kind of cute at first but quickly just became annoying.

Josie would admit, he was handsome but his eyes just weren’t as blue as Hope’s. They just didn’t shine as much. Another reason was because of his attitude and overall character. His family were all werewolves and apparently doing pretty well for themselves in life. Always wearing clothes and accessories that cost more then her entire wardrobe, it was clear he was used to getting whatever he wanted. He constantly poked fun at her being openly pan. Usually saying how it wasn't a real thing or some douchey shit like that. And when she took the time to explain to him what being pansexual meant, he assumed that she should like him more and that his ‘strong personality’ should make her want him more. It didn’t. 

Today she was on her way to meet Hope after her sparring session with the boys when Penelope and a few other witches called her over to have a quick chat about a school project they were working on. Josie was glad to have Penelope back in her life. The girl had come to her one night before bed to tell her about a certain tribrid ‘experience’ she had a few nights before. Josie had thanked her and put in extra effort to make sure Hope was ok. She knew that Hope didn’t tell her because she has a tendency to care more about others than herself, but that’s another story. It was a rocky slope but ever since then she and Penelope had pieced their friendship back together- Even if she still hits on her AND Hope ALL time, sometimes at the same time.

One afternoon after working with the witches again Josie turned into a huge mound of flesh. She looked up into the blue eyes and white cocky smile of the new werewolf. She hated that smile. It looked like a poor imitation of the ‘Mikaelson Smirk.’ She tried to be polite so she could go see her actual girlfriend but he just wouldn’t let her go. Everytime she tried to step around her would block her again and try a new pick up line.

Irritated, Josie shoved his shoulder and stepped around him in the direction of the exit. Usually all she would get was an annoyed huff or growl but today she felt a strong hand grab her wrist and squeeze, hard. The hand yanked her back around so hard she cried out as all her belongings were thrown to the floor. She went to yell at the werewolf but realized that he was glaring at her with dull bronze eyes.

The full moon was tomorrow, she remembered Hope talking about it. Josie pissed off a werewolf this close to the full moon. At this point the whole room was on alert while others were rushing over to help. 

Penelope and the other witches ran towards the two muttering some quick spells to try to defuse the situation. Before they could finish their spell, there was a snap and Josie stumbled back into Penelope. Then there was a huge crash. Then another. Then a third.

Hope Mikaelson was standing in front of Josie and Penelope, and she was not happy. People had seen her not happy before, but this was pure rage and fury. Josie knew instantly what was going on. They had never really talked about it before but Josie was aware that she was technically Hope’s ‘territory’ and wolves are one of the most territorial and protective creatures in the world. Hope is also technically and alpha and already VERY protective. So protective that she had snapped the offending wolf’s arm and thrown him through THREE walls.

Her girlfriend had just thrown another student through three walls. THREE WALLS! Josie was only brought out of her thoughts about how they would explain this one to her dad when Rafael, MG, and Kaleb rushed Hope. She didn’t even realize that the tribrid was still advancing, stalking towards the new hole in the wall with an intense ferocity. Raf had hooked his arms under her armpits and was leaning back with all his might while Kaleb and MG each awkwardly wrapped themselves around a different leg, all three of their feet dragging as Hope pulled across the room. Josie knew that she was strong but damn, this was a whole new level. Two vampires and the school’s werewolf alpha’s combined effort and it was like Hope didn’t even know they were there. Josie did the only thing she could think of. 

She whispered Hope’s name.

The tribrid whipped around with enough force to throw all the boys clinging to her in different directions. Hope’s eyes were on fire, a blazing liquid gold color. Josie was happy when they landed on her knowing that she would be able to get through to her… until they shifted over to Penelope, who was still cradling Josie.

Hope’s eyes narrowed and Penelope instantly threw her hands up in the air. “Wait! I’m on your side! I didn’t hurt her!” she screamed.

The enraged Mikaelson stomped over to stand in front of her girlfriend. She looked up into chocolate eyes before carefully taking the arm Josie was cradling in her hands, frowning when she saw the bruises. It amazed Josie how Hope could put on a show of such strength and power and then come and be so delicate with her, so caring and concerned.

The entire school would never forget the day that a five foot three whirlwind of a girl whooped up on a werewolf more than a foot taller than her and completely destroyed him. No one will ever forget because everyone learned a lesson that day.

Those who mess with Josie Saltzman, become the concentrated outlet for Hope Andrea Mikaelson’s wrath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alaric and Lizzie warmed up to Hope in the worst way possible.

There was an attack on the school. A monster had broken through the boundary spells and launched a full out attack. Every faction was on the field. The vampires were at the front on the attack with the werewolves right behind them providing support to them and protection to the witches. The witches were occupying the back line with Alaric providing support and direction for the two factions in front.

The battle wasn’t going so well. The whole thing seemed like the monster was taking two steps forward and only one step back. They just weren’t doing enough damage. The whole school was trying to buy time for Hope. She was inside contacting her aunt about some spell that would tip the scales in their favor.

The twins were stuck by the front door of the school to give support because not having access to their own magic meant that had to be in contact with the building to help. It had its pros and cons. The biggest con was being stuck there but it also gave them an advantage by being a little more elevated than the others. It allowed them to give better support when their classmates got into a bad spot.

Eventually the doors opened and Hope rushed out onto the steps with the twins. It was mesmerizing. It was like something straight out of Harry Potter. Her movements were calculated and decisive. The clouds turned to fire and she brought them down in a blaze of power, weaving and bending the flames around the threat- binding it, trapping it, before bringing her open hands in front of her and closing them forcefully. The hellstorm paused for half a second and them condensed on the monster in an explosion that rocked the school. 

  
  


When it hit the ground the Vampires, werewolves, and witches bombarded it all at once, quickly finishing it off. Lizzie rushed to her dad but Josie was stuck watching her girlfriend. Before the creature took its final breath it launched a spell in the direction of the school, a last hurrah, a hail mary. 

Josie reached back with her hand and… air. She was met with air. In her fascination with the magnificence of the spell Hope had performed she had stepped away from the wall. She had no magic to protect herself with as the purple arc of energy headed right at her.

Everyone was watching, the witches too slow to react, the wolves and vampires too far away to to anything anyway. Alaric watched in horror and Lizzie screamed as they stood there unable to do anything but watch Josie die.

The only thing Josie could see was purple. 

She felt strong arms wrap around her and was spun around. She was looking at the school’s front entrance.

There was an explosion.

Then blackness.

  
  
  


The next thing Josie knew was that she was waking up in her bed a few hours later.

She sat up immediately ignoring the dull in her head. Her dad and Lizzie were waiting for her. Only her dad and Lizzie.

“What happened” croaked Josie. “Wh- where's Hope?”

Alaric stepped over to sit on the side of the bed next to his daughter and took her hand in his. “Josie, breathe. I need you to breathe first ok? You took a pretty nasty hit to the head.” 

Josie took a moment to actually feel how her body felt. Everything was sore. Her arms and legs were heavy. She could move them but the effort just made her head thump harder. She could feel a few bumps and scrapes on her legs as well. All in All Josie seemed ok, which was terrifying because it was never that simple in the supernatural world. Nothing was ever just ‘ok.’

“Where is Hope.” she repeated.

“What do you remember?” he asked.

  
  


Josie sighed. Fighting through the pain of her head. “We… won? Or the fight was basically over I guess. Because of Hope. She did this cool, fire thing. The monster went down… It- it did some spell or… something. I stepped away from the wall… I couldn’t- I didn’t have any magic,” she thought hard. Then her eyes snapped frantically up to her dad’s. “Then I felt arms around me. The last thing I remember is looking at the school.” Tears were spilling freely down her cheeks now, “Dad where is she? Where is Hope?”

“She’s in her room.” he replied before releasing an irritated sigh. “There’s no way I can get you to just stay here and rest, is there?”

No reply was needed. Lizzie was already helpling Josie out of bed and to stand. She took a few steps and stumbled, her hand flying up to her head. Releasing what seemed like the thousandth sigh of the day, Alaric walked over and picked up his daughter knowing that if he didn’t that she would most likely hurt herself on her way to see her girlfriend.

Upon entering the young Mikaelson’s room Josie was greeted with the sight of a few familiar faces. MG, Raf and Penelope looked up when the trio walked in. She was honestly surprised to see her ex here but she was so concerned with getting to Hope that she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Hey,” said Raf. “We bought a comfortable chair in… we figured you’d want to be here for when she woke up.” Raf took Josie from her dad and brought her over to the chair that MG was sliding into place next to the head of the bed.

“She’s not awake?” Josie questioned.

All heads turned to Alaric.

“No one could do anything,” he said, “The witches weren’t physically or mentally fast enough to react. The only ones who could’ve were the vamps, but they were all finishing off whatever that thing was,” he looked at his feet, shoulders slumping in defeat, “and I’m just human. She’s much faster than people give her credit for, even factoring in her werewolf side.” he continued gesturing to Hope, “I’ve never seen someone look so afraid before. In all my years of dealing with the supernatural, I’ve seen fear, I’ve seen anger, but I’ve never seen pure despair so clearly before. She grabbed you and spun the two of you around, taking the full force of the attack herself. There was no time for a protection spell, no time to move either of you out of the way. It was either you or her and she chose her.”

  
  


Josie just now looked at the body on the bed. Hope was lying face down and the only thing she had on was pair of Nike spandex shorts. From her hips up, every inch of her body was wrapped in bandages. Josie didn’t know where to put her hand or if she even should. Her hands just hovered over Hope’s body before she pulled them back into her lap.

“Why isn’t she healing? Why- Why- I just don’t understand.” she asked

It was Penelope who answered. “That spell she performed took a lot out of her. If it was you or me, or even Emma, we would’ve passed out as soon as it was done. We might not have been able to finish it. I- she,” the girl paused to blink away the tears forming in her eyes, “I don’t know how she got to you. I don’t know how she was able to physically move after what she did. Let alone that fast. Yes she has vampire blood and advanced wolf healing but… her body and mind are most likely completely spent. Not even the saying ‘running on fumes’ would apply here, she’s well past that. We think that because of how completely exhausted she is, plus the injuries she sustained are why she hasn’t woken up yet. We’re pretty sure she just needs rest, Josie. She’s going to be fine. She’s gonna be ok, Jojo.”

Josie could only follow along with their explanations and dumbly nod. She didn’t know what else to do. She reached out to tentatively push a strand of auburn hair of of Hope’s face. It crushed her that there was no reaction at all. No wiggle of her ears when the hair tickled them, no twitch of her cute button nose, and worse of all her eyes didn’t open and she didn’t smile. Just nothing. “You guys might not wanna be here when she wakes up. She… doesn’t really like people in her room. I don’t want her to be mad at you guys.”

“We’re her friends too,” Raf mentioned. Which just made Josie feel worse.

“I- I didn’t mean-”

“We know,” Penelope cut her off, “We’re willing to bet she’d be happy to know she has people here for her.”

The brunette gave a half-hearted smile and laid her head against the chair.

Josie doesn’t really know how long they waited. Everyone except her left and returned frequently. As the alpha Raf had to check on his pack and make sure everything was in order with them, he came back often to check on not only Hope, but Josie as well. MG went with her dad and sister to check on all the factions reporting back and forth between everyone. She was really thankful for Penelope. Josie felt that it was technically her responsibility as the representative for the witches to be there for them, but the girl had told her that she would take care of everything and that resting and staying with Hope should be top priority.

Whenever they returned, it was always with a cup and plate. She understood they were trying to be helpful, but she just didn’t care. Alaric and Lizzie stopped by a few time and tried to force her to put something in her body but it was a wasted effort. She never even looked at the food, too busy staring at pale eyelids hoping to blink and see blue instead. 

At some point someone brought a blanket from her room and draped it over her. Josie buried herself as deep into it as she could. The blanket was a large thick white fur throw that had reminded Josie of Hope’s fur when she was in her wolf form. She had seen it when they had gone out and walked passed some thrift shop in town and gushed about it to Hope. The girl had given it to her on some dumb holiday that neither of them actually celebrated. She was just looking for a reason to give her a gift.

That was something Josie loved and despised about Hope. She would get the brunette anything she wanted with the excuse ‘I have more money than I’ll ever need and literally one person to spend it on. Let me buy you things, nerd.’ So Josie begrudgingly allowed it to happen, knowing that it wouldn’t stop even it she wanted it to. She tried to meet Hope in the middle and convince her not to get anything too expensive, but Hope being ninety percent sass only agreed to not do that  _ ALL _ of the time. 

Josie smiled at the memory and tried to blink away everything she was feeling.

She must have blinked for a little to long because now, she was stretching and rubbing at her eyes. Josie was disappointed in herself. She had fallen asleep while Hope lay a mere foot away in pain. Or not in pain. The worst part was that Josie didn’t even know. Hope had yet to wake up and yet to even show the slightest shift of anything.

Josie turned and released a sigh. There was another plate of food, fresh judging by the steam coming off of it. She started at the plate for a minute before picking up the cup of hot tea next to it, still not feeling up to eating.

“You should eat”

The brunette froze and scanned the room. No one else was in here… except....

Josie looked down at the bed and into half-lidded blue eyes and a sloppy attempt at a smirk.

She dropped the cup, totally forgetting about it as it shattered on the floor.

“Hey, you” whispered Hope. “A- are you ok? Are you hurt?”

Speechless. Josie was absolutely speechless. Leave it to Hope to be covered in bandages and still half out of it to ask her is she was ok. Her lack of ability to talk quickly turned to anger.

“Am I… What about you?! How could you... you...you’re hurt! I- you- I- I just don’t know what to say.” Josie shouted at the same time all their friends returned with wide eyes. They must have heard the crash of the mug. Neither girl payed any of them any attention. 

“What if-”

“ _ Josie _ ” Hope’s voice cut her off. The way it sounded coming from the tribrid’s mouth made everyone in the room pause. It was uneven and fragile. A rare sight. “C- could you lie down with me and yell at me later? It would really mean a lot to me…” she trailed off looking everywhere but at Josie.

Josie took a quick look at her dad to see if he knew what the sudden fuss was about but he had the same confused look on his face that she did. “Yeah… yeah, babe I can do that. What’s wrong?”

They cuddle all the time. Hope loves being the big spoon even though she’s shorter. This was different though, there was a vulnerability in Hope that Josie hadn’t really seen in the girl before.

“My- my dad.” she said. “When he died I would have dreams that he was ok, that everything was ok. But then I would wake up,” she paused to take a breath as her blue eyes filled with tears, “I just- I just want to hold you, so I know this is real.”

“What if this is just a dream?” shot Lizzie absentmindedly from the doorway.

Every head in the room turned towards her with mixed looks of disbelief, shock, and anger. When all gazes returned to the bed it was only to watch Hope’s bottom lip quiver and the tears start to fall freely.

“Wow. And you call me satan?” Spat Penelope.

Lizzie blanched. “I- I- That’s not what I was expecting.”

“What  _ were _ you expecting Lizzie?” asked Josie, “She’s already lost so much and you joke about her losing me too? When will you get that she actually cares about me?” the brunette quickly turned to the bed where Hope had buried her face into the mattress to openly sob. She climbed in and pulled her in to press a quick kiss to her lips. “Baby, I’m right here. I’m ok, I’m ok.”

Josie shifted so Hope was spooning her and only then did the shorter girl wrap her arms around her middle and squish them together. The auburn-haired girl curled around her and wept into her back, tears staining Josie’s tank top until she fell asleep.

Once again Penelope ushered everyone back out of the room so the young couple could be by themselves, chastising Lizzie the whole way. They needed each other and they needed rest. Josie followed Hope to a deep sleep shortly after.

When siphon woke a few hours later she could tell that Hope was already awake and before Josie could greet her, she spoke.

“I know how he felt now”

“Hmm?” Josie asked. She knew better than to interrupt Hope at these moments. It took a lot of effort and courage for her to share things from the heart and she had probably been up much longer than Josie could guess trying to gather her thoughts and steel her nerves.

“My dad. I know how he felt and why he gave up everything for me,” at the mention of Klaus, Josie made to turn to face Hope, but the tribrid tightened her grip and nuzzled into her shoulder, “If you had been hit you could’ve died.”

“You could have too, Hope…”

“But I would’ve come back. You wouldn’t have,” Hope continued.

“But Hope, your magic. You love doing magic. We don’t know if you’ll keep it if you turn. There’s so much we don’t know about your tribrid nature and you being the only one, any experiments or tests are too dangerous. They could destroy you, you could lose everything,” Josie reasoned.

“I almost did lose everything,” the tribrid confessed. “As for my magic… It would have been worth it. You  _ are _ worth it. I just need you to know that ok? I need you to know that you can be mad at me forever but I don’t regret a thing and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if I had to. So I guess… Please don’t be mad at me? I hated my dad for so long and… It just wasn’t worth it.”

“Ok” Josie breathed.

“Ok?” 

The brunette rolled over and this time the tribrid let her. “Yeah… you know that I love you right? And that's why I was so upset?

“No”

“N- no?” Josie asked.

“No!” Hope shouted. “Yes, like no I mean yes? no… wait can I start over? I was trying to say I love you more but.. I messed up…”

  
  


“What?! No way!” Josie laughed, “I love you way more!”

Hope scoffed. “I have three different species of supernatural creatures in me. That’s like, triple the amount of... um… love giving capabilities. Yeah. That. Boom, I win.”

“Prove it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and hope you liked it, Cheers~


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